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Sheba

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For other uses, see Sheba (disambiguation).

Sheba (Ge'ez: ሳባ, Saba, Arabic: سبأ, Sabāʾ, South Arabian , Hebrew: שבא, Šeḇā, also referred to as the People of Tubba', Arabic أهل تبّع) was a kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) and the Qur'an. Sheba features in Ethiopian, Hebrew and Qur'anic traditions. Among other things it was the home of the Biblical "Queen of Sheba" (named Makeda in Ethiopian tradition and Bilqīs in Islamic tradition).

Biblical tradition

Sheba is mentioned several times in the Bible. For instance, in the Table of Nations,[1] Sheba, along with Dedan, is listed as a descendant of Noah's son Ham (as sons of Raamah, son of Cush). Later on in Genesis,[2] Sheba and Dedan are listed as names of sons of Jokshan, son of Abraham. Another Sheba is listed in the Table of Nations[3] as a son of Joktan, another descendant of Noah's son Shem. Yet another Sheba is mentioned in 2 Samuel 20:1–22 who rebelled against King David, was beheaded and his head thrown over the wall by the people in the city of Abel in order to save their lives. Some Christians believe that Isaiah's prophecy, "all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense" [4] is a prediction of the Biblical Magi bringing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense to the newborn Jesus.The most famous claim to fame for the Biblical land of Sheba was the story[5] of the Queen of Sheba (Makeda in Ethiopian tradition and Bilqīs in Islamic tradition), who travelled to Jerusalem in search of King Solomon.The apocryphal Christian Arabic text Kitāb al-Magall ("Book of the Rolls",[6][7] considered part of Clementine literature) and the Syriac Cave of Treasures mention a tradition that after being founded by the children of Saba (son of Joktan), there was a succession of sixty female rulers up until the time of Solomon.

In Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, the third of these Shebas (Joktan's son) is considered the primary ancestor of the original Semitic component in their ethnogenesis, while Sabtah and Sabtechah, sons of Cush, are considered the ancestors of the Cushitic element.

The Jewish-Roman historian Josephus describes a place called Saba as a walled, royal city of Ethiopia, which Cambyses afterwards named Meroe. He says "it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras" offering protection from both foreign armies and river floods. According to Josephus it was the conquering of Saba that brought great fame to a young Egyptian Prince, simultaneously exposing his personal background as a slave child named Moses.[8]

Owing to the connection with the Queen of Sheba, the location has thus become closely linked with national prestige, as various royal houses have claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. The most vigorous claimant has been Ethiopia and Eritrea, where Sheba was traditionally linked with the ancient Axumite Kingdom.

Qur'anic tradition

In the Qur'an, the people of Sheba are called the people of Tubba' (أهل تبّع) because Tubba' was used as the title for Sheba's kings.[9] The Qur'an mentions this ancient community along with other communities that were destroyed by God.[10] Muslim scholars, including Ibn Kathir, related that the People of Tubba' were Arabs from South Arabia.[11]

Ethiopian tradition

In the medieval Ethiopian cultural work called the Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia.[12] Some scholars therefore point to a region in the northern Tigray and Eritrea which was once called Saba (later called Meroe), as a possible link with the Biblical Sheba.[13] Other scholars link Sheba with Shewa (also written as Shoa, the province where modern Addis Ababa is located) in Ethiopia.[14] Some even believe that the Arabic word Tubba' in the Quran to be a perversion of the name "Ethiopia", with the letter P in "Ethiopia" being replaced with a B because the letter P doesn't exist in Arabic.

Speculation About the Location

The actual location of the kingdom mentioned in the Bible was long disputed.[15] Owing to the connection with the Queen of Sheba, the location has become closely linked with national prestige, and various royal houses claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. According to the medieval Ethiopian work the Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. Ruins in many other countries, including Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran have been credited as being Sheba, but with only minimal evidence. There has even been a suggestion of a link between the name "Sheba" and that of Zanzibar (Shan Sheba); and a massive earthen monument of the Yoruba people all the way in West Africa known as Sungbo's Eredo actually caused excitement when first studied by Western scholars due to the tribal tradition that the divine personage it was built in honour of was none other than the Queen of Sheba herself.

The Ancient South Arabian Kingdom of Saba'

Earliest Times and the Hegemony of Saba'

The kingdom of Saba' was founded in the 8th century BC at the latest by the Sabaean tribe , in north-west Yemen, it is also assumed to have already partially existed in the 10th century BC; a view supported by the continuity of settlement in Ma’rib and in other places. Ṣirwāḥ possibly became the next capital of the kingdom, however at least by the time of the written sources of Karib'il I. the financial and cultural centre of the kingdom. The economy of the country was based on agriculture and the incense trade, which was controlled from Ma’rib. Dams had already been set up to help with the irrigation of Ma’rib, the forerunners of the famous Ma'rib Dam.

The first mention of Saba' occurs in a notice found in Ḥadīthah (Iraq)[16] which relates that a city elder from Sukhu and Mari had, in the middle of the 8th century BC, raided a caravan from Saba' and Tayma' at Hindanu[17] (near Abū Kamāl). In the year 715 BC a certain Itamra from Saba' and around 685 BC one Karibilu from Saba' gave tribute to the New Assyrian Kingdom. The identification of these two kings with kings from Sabaean sources remains uncertain, since several are attested with this name. Nevertheless the probability is that Itamra may be identified as Yitha'amar Watar I and Karibilu as Karib'īl Watar I. Yitha'amar Watar I, who consequently reigned about 715 BC, conquered the region of Qatabān to the south of Saba' and the influence of Saba' in al-Jawf with his victory over Kaminahu. Shortly after Saba' lost Qatabān to the kingdom of Awsan. However Karib'il Watar I. (ca. 685 BCE) succeeded by means of several campaigns in overthrowing the neighbouring state of Awsān, allocating this region to its vassal Qatabān, seizing control of the incense route from Najran. Apart from the incense trade there was considerable see trade with the East African coast. Colonies were founded, especially in modern day Eritrea and Tigray in Ethiopia, which produced a mixed culture, the basis of the Ethiopic-Sabaean kingdom of D’mt (Da’amot/ Di’amat) and later, from the 1st century AD the Kingdom of Aksum.

Loss of Hegemony

In the 4th century BC the vassals Ma'in, Qataban and Hadramaut achieved their independence, as did eventually the region of Sum'ay ; the first evidence Ma'in’s independence dates from about 420 BC.[18] In about 390 BC Qataban defeated Saba'.[19] As a result of the loss of Ma'in, which lay between Sab'a and Najran, Saba' consequently lost control of the incense route. Since Saba' also controlled a sea route through the Red Sea to India at Bab al-Mandab, the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) attempted to overthrow Saba'. In addition the Roman Commander Aelius Gallus conducted a campaign in 25 BC in South Arabia, under the leadership of the Nabatean Chancellor Syllaios, accompanied by Roman, Jewish and Nabatean troups. After a long, arduous and costly march the Roman army reached, according to Strabo (Geographica|Geography, XVI 4,23-24) intentionally misled by Syllaios, the northern border town of Saba', Najran, which was captured after a short battle, and soon after the former Minaean town of Yathill (Yemeni name: Barakish), which Gallus occupied. Strabo says that he then besieged Ma’rib for six days but then, because of illnesses and the difficulty in obtaining water he gave up and without further difficulties reached the Nabatean Kingdom at the beginning of 24 BC. Despite the military superiority of the Romans the field campaign was unsuccessful due to a lack of previous knowledge about the territory. Saba' reached its political highpoint with the conquest of Hadramaut (242), which brought the entire incense route in Yemen under its control.

The Hegemony of Ḥimyar and the end

As a result of the displacement of the trade route, the coastal regions gained importance. And so the Ḥimyarites, who are first mentioned at the beginning of the 1st century AD in a Hadramautic inscription[20] and in Pliny the Elder, begin to increase in importance in the southern Highlands of Yemen from the year 100 onward, since they were able to better control the harbours and thereby the sea trade. According to Kenneth A. Kitchen,[21] Saba' and Ḥimyar were united in a personal union between about the year 0–140 AD. At about the same time, Saba' disintegrated into a number of clans or dynasties, which fought for supremacy: the traditional dynasty of Ma’rib, the Hamdanids around Nait, the Marthad in Shibam and the Gurat from Jabel Kamin. About the year 200 AD, the Hamdanids seized power; nevertheless Ma'rib remained the religious centre of Saba'. Next 'Alhan Nahfan (circa 200 AD) allied himself with the Abyssinians; his son, Sha’it Awtar, on the other hand, once again fought Aksum, defeated Hadramaut in 217–18 at Shawa'ran, and quashed a rebellion by the central Arabian tribe of Kinda (280 km north-east of Najran).[22] In the Sabaean-Himyarite battle of Hurmat 248–49, neither side seemed to win a decisive victory; in about 260 Saba' was finally overtaken by Ḥimyar. Sha'ir Awtar appears to have sent a diplomatic mission to Gadarat, the result of which is unknown. War did however break out again with Gadarat’s son and military leader Bygt (probably Beygat) and the Aksumites appear to have retreated from South Arabia. Although the Ḥimyarites considered themselves successors of the Sabaeans, the decline of the interior regions could no longer be halted. The irrigation installations began to fall more and more derelict, which led to a migration of the people. After a number of breaches of the dam, Ma’rib was finally abandoned in 572.

With the support of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Aksumites conquered South Arabia under their Negus 'Ella 'Aṣbeḥa in 525, after it had fallen in about 517 to the Jewish king Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar. For a short time, Yemen became a vassal state of Aksum, and then in about the year 575 it succeeded in breaking away and became subject to the new Persian Sassanid Empire, until in 597–598 it became a province of Persia.

Bibliography

  • Alessandro de Maigret. Arabia Felix, translated Rebecca Thompson. London: Stacey International, 2002. ISBN 1-900988-07-0
  • Andrey Korotayev. Ancient Yemen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-922237-1.
  • Andrey Korotayev. Pre-Islamic Yemen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996. ISBN 3-447-03679-6.
  • Kenneth A. Kitchen: The World of Ancient Arabia Series. Documentation for Ancient Arabia. Part I. Chronological Framework & Historical Sources. Liverpool 1994.
  • Andrey Korotayev. Pre-Islamic Yemen. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-447-03679-6.
  • Walter W. Müller: Skizze der Geschichte Altsüdarabiens. In: Werner Daum (ed.): Jemen. Pinguin-Verlag, Innsbruck / Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-7016-2251-6 (formal false ISBN), S. 50–56.
  • Walter W. Müller (Hrsg.), Hermann von Wissmann: Die Geschichte von Sabaʾ II. Das Grossreich der Sabäer bis zu seinem Ende im frühen 4. Jh. v. Chr. (= Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften,Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte. Vol. 402). Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-7001-0516-9.
  • Jaroslav Tkáč: Saba 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Band I A,2, Stuttgart 1920, Pp. 1298–1511.
  • Hermann von Wissmann: Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Alt-Südarabien (Sammlung Eduard Glaser. Nr. III = Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte. Band 246). Böhlaus, Vienna 1964.
  • Hermann von Wissmann: Die Geschichte des Sabäerreiches und der Feldzug des Aelius Gallus. In: Hildegard Temporini: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. II. Principat. Ninth volume, First halfvolume. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1976, ISBN 3-11-006876-1, Pg. 308

See also

References

  1. ^ Genesis 10:7.
  2. ^ Genesis25:3.
  3. ^ Genesis 10:28
  4. ^ Bible:Isaiah 6:6
  5. ^ Bible:1 Kings:10
  6. ^ Kitāb al-Magāll. At
  7. ^ The Kitab al-Magall may well just be an Arabic recension of the Syrian work "The Cave of Treasures".
  8. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews II.10
  9. ^ Brannon M. Wheeler (2002). Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 166. ISBN 0-8264-4956-5.
  10. ^ Qur'an 50:14
  11. ^ Brannon M. Wheeler. "People of the Well". A-Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism.
  12. ^ Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), p. 75
  13. ^ The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses, by Stuart Munro-Hay
  14. ^ Donald N. Levine, Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopia Culture (Chicago: University Press, 1972)
  15. ^ The Queen Of Sheba By Michael Wood BBC News
  16. ^ Published by: A. Cavigneaux/ B. K. Ismail, in: Baghdader Mitteilungen 21 (1990), Pg. 32 ff.
  17. ^ Now Tell Jabiriyah in Iraq. A particularly important town in Assyrian times.See here http://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq05-090.html
  18. ^ Thus von Wissmann; Inscription RES 2980; Kenneth A. Kitchen: 415–400 BC
  19. ^ Inscription RES 3858
  20. ^ RES 2687
  21. ^ The World of Ancient Arabia Series. Documentation for Ancient Arabia. Part I. Chronological Framework & Historical Sources.
  22. ^ Andrey Korotayev. Social History of Yemen. Moscow: URSS, 2006.
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